It's no accident that John Mayer has been avoiding the press for the past two years.

Following two explosive interviews with Playboy and Rolling Stone in 2010, where he likened his chemistry with Jessica Simpson to "sexual napalm" and blamed his split with Jennifer Aniston on his frequent tweeting, Mayer felt the need to escape.

"It was a very strange time and it sort of rocketed me into adulthood. It was a violent crash into being an adult," Mayer, 34, said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Tuesday. "For a couple of years it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight. Because I think back then I would of said, 'Give me two weeks or let me get out and do Ellen and let me explain myself.' It was like, 'No, idiot. Go away and be 33 and 34 instead of 28 for the fourth year."

Mayer said he "had to go home for a minute" to heal from the backlash in 2010. "The plan that originally gets you out of high school and your hometown, in front of people, that plan was over. I had done it. I just sort of lost my head for a little while."

The "Shadow Days" singer -- whose new album, "Born and Raised," will be released May 22 -- was forced to cancel his 21-city tour in March in order to remove a granuloma just above his vocal cord. (He first had surgery to remove the enlarged nodule in October 2011.)

"It's not a health concern whatsoever, but it has taken me out of singing," Mayer told host Ellen DeGeneres, 54. "I tried to beat it the first time and couldn't."

Mayer then explained how the medical procedure works. "They cut this thing out of your throat and then they inject your vocal cords with Botox, which freezes your vocal cords so that this thing can heal without smacking up against the other side," he said. "I just need more Botox next time."